In 2011 Embry-Riddle Aeronautical University
implemented a new software system called Campus Solutions. The new software
system is a more technologically advanced system than the software program we
were using called Datatel. When employees were informed we were going to be
implementing the software system you could feel the tension and panic, and some
employees even quit before anything even started changing. At that moment I
believe everyone understood the long road ahead was going to be filled with
stress and uncertainty. Immediately following being made aware of the new
implementation my director at the time called a staff meeting. In his meeting
he provided us with reassurance and a plan of action of how we were going to
implement this system successfully. He explained the scheduling of different
training sessions and asked us for our thoughts and concerns. He also reminded
us of our ability as a team to always do the impossible.
In Financial Aid we were a department of eight
employees, but our student population is roughly 8,000 financial aid
recipients. This number is always an estimate determined by the amount of FAFSA
applications pulled in as well as the amount we are awarding each academic
year. Since there were regions back then we had an international counselor,
eastern region counselor (me), central region counselor, western region
counselor, scholarship and state grants manager, verification and loan manager,
assistant director who was mainly responsible for the financial aid
implementation and a director we had our hands full.
At ERAU the Financial Aid Department overall
is responsible for helping to increase the number of enrollments by providing
our students options in order to fund their education. We also provide our
students an intimate experience as they are having their personal information
analyzed so that we are able to create a personal financial aid plan
individualized to their specific needs. As
a financial aid employee I take this responsibility very series as I once
received financial aid as an undergraduate. I know first hand what it feels
like to be on the other side of the equation and I feel this personal
experience allows me to treat each student the way I wanted to be treated when
I was in their shoes.
Going into training in the spring of 2011 we
were expected to still give each of our student s exceptional service while at
the same time prepare ourselves through extensive training for the upcoming
implementation. The stress of having to continue processing all of our student
population while knowing we were going to be going live by the end of 2011 was
overwhelming to say the least. As a financial aid counselor we are responsible
for packaging awards for the academic year, which is broken into a total of ten
eligible financial aid terms. Since we are a non-traditional college everything
we do is either custom built to fit our university’s needs or manually
processed. Traditional colleges use semester based aid while at ERAU Worldwide
we operate in terms. Our terms are nine weeks long and students are able to
enroll in every month of the year. However in financial aid we can only award
students ten out of the twelve moths in order to abide by federal regulations. We
are expected by the Department of Education to follow these regulations and are
required to also attend their continuous trainings to maintain their
expectations. Another responsibility as a financial aid counselor is to
complete verifications, which is a process in which we verify certain
documentation obtained by the student’s such as federal tax transcripts,
worksheets etc. This process can take up to four weeks from beginning to end
and entails a lot of research. While maintaining the above responsibilities we are
also required to advise our students on their different financial aid options,
analyze why some of their funds do not disburse correctly, counsel students on
awareness of their responsibilities as a student as well as any other issues
that may arise.
Trying to find time to maintain our workload
while also learning the new system was very frustrating; especially because the
university as a whole relies on our dedication to continue increase enrollment
while operating with great customer service. This is where our peripheral norms
helped us implement Campus Solutions successfully. In our department we consider ourselves, as a
team as there is no yours or mine because it’s really all of ours. We look at
each we challenge we individually face as a challenge we face together. When
one of is stuck we stop and work through the issues in order to get the
functionality moving again efficiently. We operate this way because of the way
we are all encouraged to act. Our director played a pivotal role in having us
all adapt this mentality and he currently was promoted to executive director
because of this ability in my personal opinion. If at anytime we began to fall
a part he quickly recognized it and found a way to bring us back together. During
the entire process this was the reason we accomplished the unthinkable.
Currently
we feel very satisfied overall as a department thanks to the new software
system, Campus Solutions. With this software we are now able efficiently to
systematically package students faster then ever where previously we were
manually packaging each one of our students. We are capable of pulling live
data, running queries that enable better quality control, functionality alone
has quickened as the student’s and the counselors are operating from the same
screens. Previously in the software known as Datatel, our students were not
able to see the same screens we were trying to explain which cause confusion. Now
we are looking at the same information, which has increased overall
satisfaction from our student population. As we were learning we were also at
the same time ‘going live’ in the new system. As we went live we were still stuck
trying to understand the system, but it was very helpful to be required to
teach what we were learning because it reinforced the understanding of the
processes. We each learn in very different ways; however through
resourcefulness each of us have been able to get our student population as well
as the campuses and academic adviser the training they needed in order to
remain aligned with all our responsibilities we each play into the big picture.
In An Experiential Approach to Organization Development I
have realized that my organization’s recent implementation was a step for our
university to remain successful. In the text Brown explains “organizations need
to adapt to changing market conditions while at the same time cope with the
need for a renewing rather than a reactive workforce” (Brown, 2011 pg.3). ERUA
did just that our university’s leadership teams recognized the way in which the
world was growing and that is faster, more efficiently and more technologically
advanced. In recognizing the Datatel was actually insufficient for every
department they were able to adopt a new program and prepare us for the changes
to come. Everything expected of this system has pretty much been fulfilled.
There are still bumps and bruises experienced but the overall picture shows an
increased in efficiency in the way of doing things. Brown explains
organizational pivotal and peripheral norms as “essential to accomplishing the organization’s objectives
where the peripheral norms differ in that they are norms that “support and
contribute to the pivotal norms, but they are not essential to the
organization’s objectives” (Brown, 2011 pg.11). Prior to learning the
difference between the two I was not truly aware of the power and vision in
which ERAU possesses in leading the future. Our organization has not only the
power to go above and beyond what anyone of its students, faculty, staff or
anyone else affiliating what the institution but they also as a while poses the
power of doing it. We as a whole are given continuous feedback and encourage to
be innovative and bring our ideas to the forefront and in doing so we are continuously
changing and adapting with a diverse perspective that is better able to serve
everyone here at Embry-Riddle Aeronautical
University.
References
Brown, D. R. (2011). An experiential
approach to organization development (8th ed.). Upper Saddle River, NJ:
Prentice Hall.
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